Oyster farming imperiled

Eric Brazil, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, May 31, 1998

1998-05-31 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- MARSHALL, Marin County - Tomales Bay oyster farmers who've earned a national reputation for their sweet morsels say that an outbreak of illness traced to oysters from their beds imperils their market niche and perhaps even their survival.

The number of documented cases of illness attributable to eating Tomales Bay oysters early this month has hit 110, and the mystery lingers: What contaminated the succulent bivalve mollusks in one of the cleanest bodies of water on either coast?

More than three weeks after the first case was reported, state health officials still don't know, and until they do, the harvesting of Tomales Bay oysters, which have graced the menus of the West's finest restaurants, is suspended indefinitely.

"We're frankly at the point where we're looking at survival. We have to figure out ways of making it work, and I haven't figured it out yet," said Drew Alden, owner of Tomales Bay Oysters, which has been in business since 1909. "This is very frustrating," agreed Terry Sawyer, a co-owner of Hog Island Oyster Co., wishing state health investigators find the culprit quickly.

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"I want them to find a smoking gun," he said. "Our reputation is based on quality, and having people get sick hits us hard. ... Some people say they can't wait till we're back in business, but there are people who aren't going to want to eat oysters ever again."

Local markets and restaurants that relied on Tomales Bay oyster farmers for the freshest possible product have only one local supplier now - Johnson's Oyster Farm on Drake's Estero. To meet demand, they're turning to other sources.

"We haven't had a California oyster in more than two weeks," said Steve Sancimino of San Francisco's venerable Swan Oyster Depot on Polk Street. "We're getting 'em from Puget Sound and British Columbia."

Even the Tomales Bay farmers themselves are buying oysters from the Northwest - to resell to customers so they won't turn to other suppliers.

"We've got to carry on," said Hog Island co-owner Mike Watchorn, grimacing as he unloaded bags of oysters trucked in fresh overnight from Washington. "These can't hold a candle to ours, but we have to stay in business for our customers."

And the suspension has taken the fun out of some festivities.

The Rev. Joan Hull had to pull "the linchpin of our party" - an open raw oyster bar at the annual Memorial Day barbecue she throws at her Dancing Coyote Beach in Inverness.

"For most people it's their only opportunity to eat all the oysters they want. We ordered them by the hundreds" from Hog Island, she said. "The Hog Island sweets are simply the best. We didn't want to substitute."

The guests ate salmon instead.

The suspension catches the oyster farmers at the cusp of the retail season. "This is when we get rockin' and rollin', when people start coming to West Marin and barbecuing oysters," said Alden.

Oysters feed by filtering whatever floats by and concentrating it. They filter about a quart of fluid a day, consequently they're the first indicator of toxins in seawater.

Some kind of contaminant got into the beds of the Hog Island, Point Reyes and Tomales Bay companies in early May and was passed onto diners who ate raw or undercooked oysters. They complained of diarrhea, cramps, vomiting, low-grade fever and chills. The companies voluntarily recalled their oysters from restaurants, retail outlets and distributors. All the oysters were off market shelves by May 15.

Tomales Bay oysters account for more than 80 percent of the $2.5million-a-year Marin County shellfish industry. The bay is considered ideal because it's unusually free of industrial contaminants; its mouth is so shallow that large, deep draft vessels can't enter. And development along the bay is minimal.

The current harvest suspension is the longest in at least 15 years.

Manure runoff from dairy farms in the hills east of the bay is one possible source of contamination. To lessen that risk, the State Department of Health Services prohibits oyster harvesting for four to five days after any storm that drops one-half to two-thirds of an inch of rain on the Marin coastal watershed.

But the oysters that sickened people were harvested during a dry period. "We harvested during an "open' period, and that makes it (the contamination) kind of mysterious. It had nothing to do with a typical rainfall closure," said Martin Strain, owner of the Point Reyes Oyster Co.

Dr. Ben Werner, chief of the disease investigations section at the state Department of Health Services, said the reported illness could be caused either by a virus or bacteria. But "we don't know the specific etiology of the disease. ... Very few adequate studies have been done. People will complain and the doctors will report it to the county, but by the time (stool sample) kits are given to them, they say, "Why bother?' " Werner said. "The stools have been taken too long after onset (of the illness) to be real valid."

There is a possibility that the disease is caused by what is known as Norwalk virus, "and it's very hard to see a virus as time marches on," Werner said.

Norwalk virus caused dozens of illnesses in the New Orleans area during the winter of 1996-97. Its source was traced to human sewage from an oyster boat in the gulf. Symptoms reported by people who became ill after eating Tomales Bay oysters are similar to those in Louisiana.

"It could be a passing boat dumping ballast or sewage, somebody camping, a leak from the sewage system of a building - these kinds of things happen," he said. "It has a tough impact on growers. They're usually not the people who are causing the problem."

The good news, he said, is that all reported illnesses traced to Tomales Bay oysters have been "self-limiting. That means even without treatment you're going to get well. It's kind of like a cold."

In its continuing attempt to isolate the agent that caused the illnesses, the health department is sampling the waters of Tomales Bay and its shellfish, and it has sent oyster samples to a federal Food and Drug Administration lab in Alabama, which has specialized virus detection equipment.

While public health officials search for the cause of the contamination, Tomales Bay oyster farmers are losing patience and money. "They're just dragging their feet, basically," Strain said. "The oysters were harvested when the growing areas were safe, and it's basically a failure of their program to detect the pathogenic organisms."

Sawyer estimated that Hog Island lost $10,000 in the first week after the harvest was suspended.

Bill Dawson, owner of Seafood Suppliers at Pier 33 in San Francisco, is a leader in the national effort to tighten up shellfish safety. But even he said, "I don't know why this has gone on for so long and there isn't an answer. . . . People will start asking, "Who's watching the barn here?' "

Tomales Bay oyster farmers may have to do some scrambling to regain the markets they've lost because of the suspension, but not at the Waterfront Restaurant on Pier 7, where six diners complained of discomfort after eating oysters on Mother's Day.

"I am very, very faithful to the Hog Island people, and I'll continue to use their products," chef Bruce Hill said.

What happened on Mother's Day was "a curious thing," Hill said.

"I buy my oysters in 120-piece packages," he said. "A hundred and fourteen people didn't have any symptoms at all. There are different levels of tolerance. It's a concern, but I wouldn't let it worry me too much." &lt;

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